Abide

Read: Matthew 10:1-8: Disciple Making

Jesus’ discipleship model was not unlike that which is used today in many fields of study. As when a person begins to study a field, he or she starts with the basic and exercises basic skills in a laboratory environment. As skills grow, so do the task to the point where one is ready to start exercising skills outside the laboratory, but still in a controlled setting under the tutelage of a master. Jesus Matthew 10 is doing just this: he’s sending the disciples out on a mission to do the things that they had seen him doing all through the book of Matthew – teaching (Matthew 5, 6, and 7) and performing signs and wonders to show authority authenticate the message (Matthew 8,9). But here in Matthew Jesus puts parameters on it: he tells them not to go to the nations or into Samaria, rather to go to the people of Israel and do the work among their own, as all the disciples were Jews.

Also of note, this is the only place in the book if Matthew that the disciples are actually called “apostles”. The word literally means “sent one”, which is precisely what Jesus is doing here in the text. The command that Jesus gives them to “go” is the same command given in Matthew 28:19 in the Great Commission. In sending them out, Jesus is appointing them to be apostles to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God.

The command that Jesus gives here and in Matthew 28:18-20 are all about the process of making disciples. The command being carried out here in Matthew and also in the book of Acts reflects a similar discipleship model – a more mature believer will teach and train up new believers and then at some point commission them to do the same thing: go and make disciples. It has been passed on from generation to generation up into the present. Paul expressed this principle to one of his own disciples, Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 where he commands Timothy to teach what he was taught to those who can teach it to others. There are at least 5 generations implied here: Paul’s teachers, Paul, Timothy, Timothy’s students, and Timothy’s student’s students.

Every believer today does well to be both a disciple and a disciple maker. Having another to teach one’s self and also having some one to teach will help bring everyone to spiritual maturity and also propagate the gospel to the next generation. God wants his gospel to go out and he’s given the means to do it!

Lord, help me to be a disciple and make disciples too!